Embassy Row

Celebrating Israel

Israeli Ambassador Daniel Ayalon praised Secretary of State Colin L. Powell as a “general’s general” and a “diplomat’s diplomat” at the Israeli Embassy’s annual independence day celebration this week.

“I can think of no better person who epitomizes the greatness of the United States more than … Powell, whose illustrious career spans more than 45 years of service to his country and indeed to the entire global community,” Mr. Ayalon said.

“He was a general’s general. He is a diplomat’s diplomat and he is a leader’s leader. We are proud that he is our friend and that we are his.”

Mr. Powell addressed more than 1,000 guests at the reception at the Omni Shoreham Hotel Tuesday evening before flying to Berlin to attend a conference on anti-Semitism. Nobel Peace Prize winner and Holocaust survivor Eli Wiesel and Israeli President Moshe Katzav also attended the reception.

Mr. Powell said Israel is a model for Middle East democracy because it was founded by leaders who had no previous experience with self-government.

“We know that democracy isn’t easily achieved, and we also know there was little in the personal history of Israel’s founding leaders to explain how Israel became such a thriving democracy,” he said.

He said Israel’s example shows that a democracy can be “created among any people who have the desire to do so, the will to do so and understand the importance of doing so.”

Mr. Powell said Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon proposed a plan that “gives us a new opportunity” to end the Israeli-Palestinian dispute. Mr. Sharon is prepared to withdraw from the Gaza Strip and much of the West Bank, while retaining several settlements on land claimed by the Palestinians.

Mr. Powell said the Palestinians must respond by ending violence and negotiate “final settlement issues.”

“Israel and the Middle East certainly need better times, need peace. There can be no doubt,” he said. “There’s been too much sadness, too much sacrifice, too much blood all for much too long.”

Envoy visits Buddhist

The U.S. ambassador to Vietnam demonstrated American support for the leader of an outlawed Buddhist church by visiting him yesterday at his home, where he has been under virtual house arrest since October.

The U.S. Embassy told Agence France-Presse that Ambassador Raymond Burghardt met for an hour for a “private conversation” with Thich Huyen Quang, the 86-year-old patriarch of the United Buddhist Church of Vietnam.

Vietnam’s communist government has accused him and other monks of possessing state secrets and organizing an unofficial church.

Although the government insists he is not under arrest, Mr. Quang remains confined to his house in the central province of Binh Dinh.

Haiti must change

Haiti must seize this “new last chance” to reform its political system, eliminate corruption and reform its chaotic society, U.S. Ambassador James B. Foley told Haitian business leaders this week.

“Haiti doesn’t really have the choice of missing this new last chance. It’s going to change because it must change. The alternative is unthinkable,” he told the Haitian-American Chamber of Commerce. “The current situation in Haiti is disastrous.”

He blamed drug trafficking for corrupting the government of ousted President Jean-Bertrand Aristide, adding that 15 percent of Colombian cocaine that reaches the United State is smuggled through Haiti.

Mr. Foley said the Bush administration strongly supports the new government and will soon announce “considerable aid” for the country.

Haitian Prime Minister Gerard Latortue is due in Washington next week, the Haitian Embassy said.

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